Discover YOUR wellness community
The Wellness Grind is all about like-minded people coming together to support each other’s wellness. There is no definition of a wellness community, the community is made by the contributions of community members. So get ready to comment, follow on social media, and join the moment!
As I’ve shared the idea of an online wellness community with friends, family, and community members, I’ve heard a variety of responses. Mainly, positive remarks and folks thinking that this is a “cool” concept. I’ve also heard a bit of confusion about the breadth of what is covered on this website. That could be because when you are working on your well-being, you have a lot of ground to cover.
Your Wellness Encompasses Everything in Your Life.
Let’s take a step back and think about what a holistic wellness recipe might entail:
- Positive social connections with family, friends, and people you interact with at work and in the community.
- A healthy lifestyle that promotes a long life including eating nutritious foods, working out, and reducing everyday toxic stress.
- Working with your doctor to prevent illness, address any risk factors you might have, and properly treat any medical conditions you already know about. While treatment is important, prevention is key!
- A fulfilling career or job that you love, (or like a lot), that will keep you grounded, happy, learning, growing, and that is something that shares your natural talents with the world. You might say this one is a very difficult one to achieve, but you can find good in many things if you appreciate the effort you put in daily and don’t focus on the pay check that comes every two weeks.
- Lifelong learning through exposure to new places, new people, and new ideas. Traveling and seeing what is outside of your comfort zone. Traveling will help you learn about the history of the world, the history of human kind, and help you learn about your personal/familial history. The more you educate yourself about the world around you, the more you will be able to appreciate and connect to different types of people.
- Connecting to nature, animals, and the outdoors. This is one of the most important parts of reducing stress. Animal and nature therapy is real, and it’s important. Connecting with the outdoors and animal friends can help you stay grounded and benefiting from fresh air.
- Taking time to rejuvenate yourself through sleep, meditation, deep breathing, yoga, aromatherapy, hot baths, or whatever other remedy you prefer. This is one of the harder aspects for many adults to focus on because it takes you deliberately slowing down! However, you can build this into your daily routine. With practice and patience, you will automatically find time when you can do these things throughout the day because your body will start to give you signs that this time is necessary.
- Connecting to your community through volunteering, attending community events, frequenting a farmers market, or organizing a book club with your friends. There are so many ways to create connections to others around you with similar interests and goals. The more people you surround yourself with who will lift you up and celebrate your successes, the more people you can call on when you need support. Take time to find the right community for you, it may not be a geographically close community. Your community might be online via a Facebook group or even right here at WellnessGrind.com.
- Love yourself. You can’t share love with those around you if you don’t love yourself. So many times throughout the day we think about how to do things for others and we sometimes forget that we also need to spend time loving ourselves. This might entail shutting down the inner critic, laughing to yourself, expressing gratitude for your talents and gifts, and being happy that you are here on this earth another day. Loving yourself is the most important thing you can do for your wellness and for the wellness of those around you.
OK OK… I Get it.. but I Don’t Have Time for All of That
I can already hear you saying “Ok Wendie V. stop preaching wellness, that list is way too difficult for me to manage every day”. I totally hear you! I’m working on it too! Trying to incorporate an aspect of wellness into your daily life is difficult. Especially if you travel for work, have a family, run a business, work multiple jobs, are paying off your student loans, and are trying to maintain a relationship with your partner.
Yes, I agree, creating time to work on your wellness can be exhausting in and of itself. So I ask you to turn this concept on its head and think about how you can combine things together so you get the most bang for buck, so to speak. Consider how you can accomplish multiple aspects of wellness throughout your day so you can get the benefits, share them with your tribe, and keep moving onto your other “life tasks”.
1. Pet Wellness + Outdoor Time Every Day
Every day starts with a dog walk. I get my time in with my fuzzy best friend. I get the health benefits of being outdoors with nature, walking, and seeing the sun rise for gorgeous pictures I can share with my tribe on Instagram. I typically get a second or third dog walk in every day. When I’m teleworking this is a key activity to break up my day, force me to get away from the computer, and limit my screen time.
Sweaty Wendie V trailing behind Asha 
Asha on her morning stroll
2. Farm Fresh Foods + Community Connectivity
On Saturday or Sundays I check out the local farmers markets during market season. I’ve become a fixture at most of the local markets with the vendors and the market managers. Usually when I show up, I get a greeting from the various vendors and we chat about their sales, their newest products, or their business origin story. I check out and buy products that will help me with my wellness grind. From fresh fruits and vegetables, to handmade soaps for aroma therapy. Through this, I am supporting local businesses, reducing my carbon footprint, and ensuring that I limit the harmful products that I put in or on my body.
3. Working Out + Creating Community
Every Sunday and Monday I teach a spin class in Germantown, MD. These are my biggest workouts of the week, but I combine them with an opportunity to make social connections with others. I’ve worked hard to create a community in my classes where I know people’s names, they know each other’s names, and we celebrate our accomplishments when we complete a killer ride! My Sunday Funday and Monday Nigh Madness folks truly are the core of my tribe.
4. Work life + Learning, Growing, & Connecting
At work, I check in with my friends daily. I find time to make sure I’m asking people how they are doing, giving a hug or high five if needed, and genuinely connecting with people in the workplace. So often we go through our day on the computer or phone without a chance to use the restroom. I strive to embody wellness in the workplace by making sure my basic needs (like going to the bathroom and eating) are priorities. I also use work as a place to keep learning and growing. Since I have 3 jobs, my 9-5, my side hustle teaching Spin, and my own business- the number of hours I spend working each day can be about 16 hours on a good day. That’s a lot of time, but I’m sure many of you with multiple jobs know what this is like. In order to stay pumped to do all this work, I have to stay motivated. To stay motivated I have to keep learning, growing, and developing new skills.
5. Social Connections + Indulgences
I make it a priority to spend time with friends and enjoy life’s finer things like wine, craft beer, a good meal, a shopping trip, or anything that will make me feel happy if I’m having a down moment. So many of us are experiencing anxiety or depressing on a mass scale. It’s important to figure out what luxuries you can afford in your budget, either time or money, and make those things a part of your wellness recipe. It’s O.K. to splurge in calories, or an extra 2 hours you don’t feel like you have, if it helps you relieve stress and unwind. You’ll find me at the local craft brewery where everyone knows my name- Saints Row- in Rockville, MD at least one night every two weeks. It’s a place I can connect to others, have genuine conversations, and relax. (Of course, always drink responsibly!)
6. Rejuvenating Myself Throughout The Day
When I need some down time.. I take it. No matter where I’m at. Before a big keynote speech I stop and mediate. When I come home from a stressful day, I go for a run with the pup. Whenever I can, I do deep breathing exercises in the car and listen to podcasts that will help me learn and grow rather than raging at other drivers with poor driving skills. I find that I need down time throughout the day and sometimes that’s only a few minutes. It don’t take hours to mediate, I try to do it for 10 minutes or so before I go to bed. I might even spend some of my time in the shower doing single nostril breathing exercises to start my day with as much clarity as possible.
7. Spiritual Connection + Travel
I am not a deeply religious person, but I am a very spiritual person. I often pray and talk directly to God, (or the higher power, or whatever name or concept is most comfortable for you). I find that when I am alone and need support, taking a moment of silence to reach out to God and ask for that support has been a key soother of my restless soul. I often find that in times of difficult decisions or hardship, prayer just comes out of my heart. I speak to my ancestors and ask them to give me strength. I ask God to send my ancestors to me to guide me on the most fruitful path forward.
Many times when I travel, I wander into churches, temples, and ancient places of worship to take a moment to feel the power of the spirit world. Traveling has opened my eyes to the generations of beliefs human kind has held since the existence of our species. There are so many religions, places of worship, and spiritual people of all kinds that I can’t help but absorb and learn from all of them. I’m like a sponge learning and growing in my understanding of what it is like to be spiritually connected. I can honestly say, this part of my wellness is one I need to make more time to explore. Often I find it easier to connect spiritually when I am removed from my daily routine and can have an open heart and mind.
The Bottom Line
What’s the bottom line? You can fit wellness into your daily life too. You can make space for things that will benefit you like reading a book, having quiet non-screen hours, or connecting with your family around the dinner table. All of these things support your wellness grind.
It is your responsibility to take care of yourself. No one will come asking you if you got out your wellness toolbox today. You alone will know if you’ve done something beneficial towards your wellness.
I’ll leave you this inspirational wellness quote to consider. Your wellness is important because you are important to this world. In order to keep moving forward in life, you need to find your passion and share it with the world. In order to find your passion and share it, you need to be in a place of love and wellness. Only you can harness your true potential and choose to share it with those around you.
